


The Disappearance of Stray Kids

by general_jae



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Violence, Cats, Fantasy, Guns, Just a mashup of all genres, Just read it so you'll know, M/M, Multiverse, Mystery, Science Fiction, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, are an important plot device
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-06 05:33:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18844648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/general_jae/pseuds/general_jae
Summary: "Are you happy that we're together, Hyunjin?""I'm happy, but I'm much happier when I'm with Stray Kids."Hyunjin wakes up one day, his life turned upside down. When Hyunjin got himself entangled in another universe, he strives to live the life the same way he has been, but how could he when Stray Kids doesn't exist?





	The Disappearance of Stray Kids

**\- .... . / -.-. .- - .- ... - .-. --- .--. .... . / --- ..-. / ... - .-. .- -.-- / -.- .. -.. ...**

“Thank you, Stays!”

Chan shouted through his microphone, echoing throughout Araneta Coliseum. It was finally the end of their third world tour, with a three-night show at Manila. Stray Kids looked at the vast ocean of their fans cheering their names while being rained down by confetti.

Each member went one by one to the backstage waving their hands at the fans, starting with Jeongin and Chan lastly going out of the stage. The group was overwhelmed with joy and still feels ecstatic seeing Stays cheering for them in each performance. The group huddled in a circle and each member put one hand in the center.

“Guys, it’s been one hell of a ride. We’ve been touring the world for a year and this is where our world tour concludes.” Chan started his speech. “I’m thanking everyone for putting their best effort, and we all hope we can tour again next year! In the count of three, when I say Stray Kids, you say Fighting!”

“One, two, three, Stray Kids!”

“Fighting!”

Some of the members’ hands went down while some went up. They were confused about what they did, but seeing their actions, it made them laugh.

“I think, we usually raise our hands after,” Minho said looking at each member for approval.

“No, no, we always did it the other way!” Han clarified.

And the banter ensues, each member fighting over which is right. Hyunjin was doing his usual dance, Minho and Jisung were bantering in which both were right, supported by Felix and Changbin, while Seungmin, Woojin, and Jeongin were deep in thoughts, remembering in which of the two members are right. Chan stayed silent while looking at the members with adoration and smiled.

\- .... . / -.-. .- - .- ... - .-. --- .--. .... . / --- ..-. / ... - .-. .- -.-- / -.- .. -.. ...

“Lost in deep thoughts, Hyunjin?”

Hyunjin felt a cold tin can put near his cheek. Looking at the hands, trailing his eyes from the arms to the face, it was Chan who was offering him a drink, his hotel roommate. He grabbed the can of Locally Dalandan and popped the tab in its lid. He drank a little until the taste hits his throat.

“This is not ‘drinks’, Chan-hyung.” Hyunjin emphasized the drinks word, quoting using his fingers.

“Well, I wouldn’t like you to be seen by Stays drunk for our flight tomorrow.”

Hyunjin sighed and sipped the drink, leaving an aftertaste in his tongue and throat. He swirled the tin can, feeling the liquid content following the motion that he made.

“What got you lost in thoughts, Hyunjin?” Chan said, popped the tab in his drink, and drank a quarter of its contents. Both sitting at Hyunjin’s bed, looking at the night view outside.

“It’s just me, not believing after five years that we are performing in big venues. I felt a sense of accomplishment, but at the same time, I felt the pressure to perform better in front of everyone. I kept thinking about our future.”

“I think we all feel the same thing as you do, Hyunjin. It feels like a dream, but this is the reality. Of course, people are going to expect us to be better, but just do your own thing that you enjoy in everything that you do, you will do better and be able to meet everyone’s expectations.” Chan sipped from his drink and continued his talk.

“What about the future are you afraid of Hyunjin?”

“The seven-year curse.”

There was silence between the two members. Each sipped noisily from their drinks alternately, relieving the deadly silence in their room. Chan stood from Hyunjin’s bed and went near to the hotel’s big window, holding his drink.

“I think we should not think about that. We’ll definitely beat that curse because we’re Stray Kids! We’ll all be together through thick and thin.” Chan’s cheerful voice echoed through the room while looking at Hyunjin who has eyes set on the leader.

“Sorry, that was just a slip of my tongue. I should have thought about it first before saying it loud.” Hyunjin’s grip on the can became tighter, creating dents in the can. Chan noticed Hyunjin’s actions and went beside him and hugged the younger.

“We’ll be like GOT7-sunbaenim, they’re already celebrating their 10th anniversary next year!” Chan calmed Hyunjin who was showing signs of distraught. Hyunjin nodded at the leader’s words, laughed, and faced the leader, removing himself from the hug.

“I’m wondering what would have happened if all the members haven’t met to form Stray Kids? Will we all still meet, creating and performing music?” Hyunjin curiously asked Chan.

“Well, that world would have sucked. I can’t live without producing music.” Chan laughed, took a last sip of his drink and threw the can at the trash can.

 _'Yeah, that would’ve sucked hard.'_ Hyunjin thought.

\- .... . / -.-. .- - .- ... - .-. --- .--. .... . / --- ..-. / ... - .-. .- -.-- / -.- .. -.. ...

Hyunjin found himself walking in the forest, covered in snow. Short erratic breaths coming from his mouth, fastly pacing the forest in the cold afternoon. He didn’t know why he was there. Am I dreaming? Hyunjin thought.

His movements cannot be controlled, as if he was just watching a movie, letting his consciousness follow what was happening in front of his eyes. He was confused about why he was there.

As the scene unraveled, he saw a cat looking at him intently while covered in the snow. That cat must’ve been cold being covered in snow. As he was going to grab the cat, the cat jumped from its place and walked away from Hyunjin. Looking at the cat walking away from Hyunjin, the cat suddenly turned its head and looked intently at him, as if it was telling him to follow it.

Strangely, Hyunjin decided to follow the cat. He followed the cat for a few minutes until it halted at the center of a frozen lake within the forest. He decided not to take a risk walking in the frozen lake and just look at the cat who’s looking at him back intently.

After a few moments of staring with the cat, he heard a gunshot.

And the next thing he knew, the cat was bleeding in the center of the lake. The blood seeping out from its skin stained the white snow, and Hyunjin, appalled in his place. He looked for signs of a person who triggered the gunshot. He searched around the lake and was shocked when he saw who was at the other side.

At the other side, he saw Minho, with a gun in his hand.

But Minho looked different. It’s not Minho-hyung.

Hyunjin made his way to the center of the frozen lake and tried to reach the cat, but was stopped by another gunshot, nearly missing him.

“Don’t you fucking dare, Hyunjin!” Minho maniacally shouted at him.

But Hyunjin did not falter from his warning. He went to grab the cat and cradled it in his arms while blood still continued flowing out from the cat’s body to his clothing.

“Don’t move from that spot, Hyunjin!”

And he heard another gunshot, one after the other, hitting the ice below him. To say that he was scared was an understatement, he was utterly confused and terrified of what’s happening. Minho continued firing shots at the ice below him, cracks becoming bigger and evident, signaling an imminent fall in the cold lake under the ice.

As Minho was only a few meters away of Hyunjin, he fired another gunshot, but it was a mistake. The shot had triggered to completely crack the ice, making Hyunjin and the cat fall at the cold lake. All Hyunjin could feel was that he was cold, completely being freezed in the lake, closing his eyes as he was running out of breath.

“Hyunjin!”

Hyunjin’s eyes opened and he saw a pair of arms pulling him up. As soon as he got out of the water, he spitted out all the water that he ingested, and look at his surroundings.

He was in a bathtub, filled with cold water, and Chan was holding Hyunjin’s arms checking if he was okay.

“What happened, Chan-hyung?”

“I just woke up and went to do my morning rituals and I saw you in the bathtub. Are you drowning yourself, Hyunjin?!” Chan worriedly asked.

“No! No! I didn’t know why I was here! All I could remember was that I was dreaming, and I was drowning in water. I know that I slept in my bed last night.”

“So, you’re saying that you slept walk into the bathroom, opened the bathtub’s faucet and tried to take a bath but ended up looking like drowning yourself?”

“That looks like it, hyung.”

Chan deeply sighed. He helped Hyunjin get out of the bathtub, looked at him while holding tightly the younger’s arms.

“I thought you were drowning yourself at there. All my senses suddenly woke up seeing you at the bathtub drowned in the water.”

“Sorry, hyung. I had a weird dream last night, that’s maybe why I slept walk.”

Chan looked at Hyunjin intently and patted the younger’s head.

“Dry yourself up, we’re going down for breakfast.” Chan instructed Hyunjin. The younger nodded and grabbed a towel to dry up.

“One more thing, we have to lock the bathroom doors at our dorms starting tonight, Hyunjin.”

~

It was already 5:30PM when they landed in Incheon, and due to the 4-hour flight, most of the members were tired even though they were sleeping most of the flight. Once they already got their luggages, camera flashes welcomed them upon their exit.

People were already flocking the airport, trying to get the best pictures possible of the members. Members were squeezed with one another that they had to hold hands, so that they wouldn’t stray from the group. Seungmin and Woojin were pushed by some of the people, while others like Changbin and Chan were trying to create a barricade for the younger ones.

 _‘Ah, here we go again.’_ Minho thought and rolled his eyes.

After a few minutes of trying to escape the flock of fans, they were already in the VIP parking area. Members sighed as they got into the van going back to their dorms. Seungmin, Hyunjin, Woojin, and Chan were in one van, while the other had Changbin, Jeongin, Felix, Jisung, and Minho.

“Hyunjin, can we like go the café near our dorms after we went home? I wanted to buy coffee…” Seungmin muttered. “…and talk to you.”

Hyunjin was surprised, it’s been quite a while since they got coffee on their own. Nevertheless, Hyunjin accepted Seungmin’s invitation. _‘Why would he want to talk to me?’_ Hyunjin thought.

“Okay, Seungmin. I’ll just wash up myself at the dorm then I’ll follow you after. What would you want to talk about? It’s rare for you to talk to me something about you.”

“It’s just something that’s been bothering me lately,” Seungmin said and proceeded to put his air pods on his ear.

Hyunjin was curious and being curious means that he’s bothered. _‘What’s bothering Seungmin that he only wanted to open up to me? Could he be that he li—no, that’s impossible.’_

“Hyunjin! Get a hold of yourself!” Hyunjin muttered and slapped both of his cheeks.

“Are you okay, Hyunjin?” Woojin asked looking at him, while Chan turned to look at Hyunjin intently.

“Ah, no. Nothing’s wrong. I was kind of sleepy, so I slapped myself.” Hyunjin awkwardly laughed at the older members and put his air pods and listened to GOT7.

\- .... . / -.-. .- - .- ... - .-. --- .--. .... . / --- ..-. / ... - .-. .- -.-- / -.- .. -.. ...

The door chime of the coffee shop ringed signaling someone entering the premises. Seungmin lifted his head and saw Hyunjin looking for him. It took a few moments, but when their eyes met, each stared into the brown orbs of the other.

Hyunjin was the first to let go. He mouthed Seungmin that he’s going to order something and proceeded to the counter. Seungmin nodded and looked at Hyunjin who was walking towards the counter. It was until then that Seungmin covered his face in embarrassment.

‘I shouldn’t have stared at him like that! Seungmin, you boo boo the fool!’

‘I shouldn’t have looked at him like that! Hyunjin, what are you doing! Your behavior is so ughh!’

Seungmin was fiddling with his fingers and was lost in his thoughts while Hyunjin finished ordering his drink, got his receipt and pager, and went on his way to their seats. _‘He looks cute, fiddling his fingers.’_

_‘What should I say? Should I be direct? No! That would be a total turn-off! I can totally feel him looking at me right now! Seungmin, think! THINK!’_

Deep in his thoughts, he felt Hyunjin already took a seat in front of him. He lifted his head and tried to make the most natural smile that he could during the moment, even though there was a turmoil inside his head.

“So, Seungmin, what did you want to talk about?” Hyunjin started the conversation. _‘Welp, here goes nothing, Hyunjin.’_

“What do you think of me?” Seungmin muttered.

“Pardon? Can you raise your voice, Minnie?” Even though Hyunjin heard it, he wanted to make sure he got the question correct.

 _‘Welp, he’s using our names for each other. He’s making this hard for me!’_ Seungmin thought.

“What do you think of me, Jinnie?”

“Oh…” Hyunjin paused. “Well, I see you as a friend, a great singer, the bestest buddy that I cou—”

“I don’t mean it that way, Jinnie.”

Hyunjin stopped at his words and looked intently at Seungmin. His heartbeat was in an erratic rhythm, and it feels like it’s going to burst out of his chest. _‘What did Seungmin meant? Oh my gosh, he’s making me nervous. Maybe it’s the smell of the coffee. Why is he looking at me intently like that?’_

The smell of coffee was overpowering the senses of both guys at the café. The silence between them making each other careful in the next words that they’re going to say to the other. The tick of clock ringing in their ears, as if the time slowed down to this present moment.

**“Do you think of me more than as a friend, Jinnie?”**

**\- .... . / -.-. .- - .- ... - .-. --- .--. .... . / --- ..-. / ... - .-. .- -.-- / -.- .. -.. ...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please do leave a comment ❤

**Author's Note:**

> sorry, i really don't write fluff, so please excuse my cringy ass fluff writing.
> 
> the events might seem fast, but it's supposed to be like that 😂 i have to cram the introduction arc into two chapters.
> 
> please anticipate the second chapter!


End file.
